Data and Intelligence Principles From Major Players

The purpose of this blogpost is to enumerate the declared ethical positions of major players in the data world. This is a work in progress.

Google

In June 2018, Sundar Pinchai (Google CEO) announced a set of AI principles for Google. This includes seven principles, four application areas that Google will avoid (including weapons), references to international law and human rights, and a commitment to a long-term sustainable perspective.

These comments are mostly directed at the Google principles, because these are the most recent. However, many of them apply equally to the others. Commentators have also remarked on the absence of ethical declarations from Amazon.

@EricNewcomer talks about What Google’s AI Principles Left Out (Bloomberg 8 June 2018). He reckons we’re in a “golden age for hollow corporate statements sold as high-minded ethical treatises”, complains that the Google principles are “peppered with lawyerly hedging and vague commitments”, and asks about governance – “who decides if Google has fulfilled its commitments”.

@katecrawford(Twitter 8 June 2018) also asks about governance. “How are they implemented? Who decides? There’s no mention of process, or people, or how they’ll evaluate if a tool is ‘beneficial’. Are they… autonomous ethics?” And @mer__edith (Twitter 8 June 2018) calls for “strong governance, independent external oversight and clarity”.

Andrew McStay (Twitter 8 June 2018) asks about Google’s business model. “Please tell me if you spot any reference to advertising, or how Google actually makes money. Also, I’d be interested in knowing if Government “work” dents reliance on ads.”

Earlier, in relation to DeepMind’s ethics and social impact statement, @riptari (Natasha Lomas) suggested that “it really shouldn’t need a roster of learned academics and institutions to point out the gigantic conflict of interest in a commercial AI giant researching the ethics of its own technology’s societal impacts” (TechCrunch October 2017). See also my post on Conflict of Interest (March 2018).

@rachelcoldicutt asserts that “ethical declarations like these need to have subjects. … If they are to be useful, and can be taken seriously, we need to know both who they will be good for and who they will harm.” She complains that the Google principles fail on these counts. (Tech ethics, who are they good for? Medium 8 June 2018)